Bennett ready for new start

WAYNE Bennett believes he is a better coach and better equipped to handle the intense pressures of the NRL than when he started with the Broncos in 1988.

However the master coach - who has seven NRL titles to his name, six of them with Brisbane - is adamant he will walk away from the club the day he can no longer give it his very best.

"The one thing that has stuck out for me in the time I have been away (from Brisbane) is that this is the most precious job in rugby league, coaching the Broncos, because of the club itself and the expectation that comes with it," Bennett said in his first press conference since returning home.

"I come back here with my eyes wide open. It's a challenge and it's one that I am up for and one that I want to meet.

"It's not my intention to coach anywhere else. I am back to stay. I spent 21 years of my life here, but when my coaching time is finished, and I will know that, I won't stay one more day than I should."

Bennett admitted the club had lost some aura, which he said could be restored by performances on the field, but he refrained from making any bold predictions about winning a premiership. He did say the co-captaincy system, shared this season between Corey Parker and Justin Hodges, would be scrapped next season.

The club has not re-signed representative prop Ben Hannant, who now looks certain to sign with the Gold Coast. Bennett said he was hoping both troubled fullback Darius Boyd, who would be his first choice No.1, and Kiwi prop Russell Packer, due for release from Lithgow prison in January, would join the Broncos next season.